(The Lion) — A provincial medical body in Canada is urging the country to consider expanding assisted suicide to include euthanizing newborn babies, raising a new alarm among pro-life advocates and faith leaders.
“Medical assistance in dying may be an appropriate treatment for babies suffering from extreme pain,” the Quebec College of Physicians has publicly suggested.
The organization further stated, “Parents should have the opportunity to obtain this care for their infant.”
Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2016 under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. Since then, the law has continued to expand.
In 2021, Parliament passed Bill C-7, which removed the requirement that a person be terminally ill. This change opened the door for those with chronic conditions to qualify for assisted suicide.
The federal government also wants to expand eligibility to those suffering only from mental illness, though this expansion has been delayed until 2027 after resistance from provinces and medical groups.
Now, some in the medical establishment want to allow even more death.
In 2022, Quebec College of Physicians member Louis Roy told a parliamentary committee that euthanasia could apply to “babies from birth to one year of age” who have severe deformities or disabilities.
Even then-Liberal Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough pushed back. She said there is “no world where I would accept that.”
Health Canada has funded university research exploring youth perspectives on assisted suicide. That project included a discussion of whether children with severe autism might one day qualify for state-assisted death, which critics equate with murder.
Under current Canadian law, minors cannot use assisted suicide. However, activists continue pressing for broader access.
Conservative lawmakers have introduced legislation hoping to curb such expansions.
MP Garnett Genuis proposed Bill C-260, which would ban government officials or those in positions of power from suggesting assisted suicide to someone who did not request it.
Another measure, Bill C-218, was introduced by Conservative MP Tamara Jansen. The proposal would block extending assisted suicide to those with mental illness.
Jansen has warned allowing such expansions crosses a moral line. She said providing euthanasia to the mentally ill is “not healthcare, that’s not compassion, it’s abandonment.”
Canada’s Catholic bishops have condemned assisted suicide and expressed support for legislation that would prevent its expansion.
Assisted suicide is now the sixth leading cause of death in Canada.
